Enough
by IfOnlyBabe
Summary: Ranger's had enough of the Joe/Steph rollercoaster. It's time to step up.


**Author's Note: All of the character's belong to JE. No one belongs to me. If Ranger did, I'd never leave the house again.**

 **Also, a bit rusty so forgive me for the cliché story lines until I get up to scratch. Total Babe. Beware my undying romantic side.**

Ranger's headlights swept over the parking lot, beating back the darkness. Fifteen hours ago, he had been sitting in a stuffy office building being debriefed after his latest, and last, mission and now he was ready to move forward with the next chapter of his life. With her.

Glancing around the still lot, his eyes picked out first her POS car, a rust coloured Honda – he'd fix that first thing in the morning – and then Morelli's red truck. He'd fix that right fucking now. Someday was here and Morelli wasn't invited.

Striding into the building, he took the stairs two at a time and was standing outside her door within seconds. He thought about knocking for a heartbeat but decided any opportunity to piss Morelli off should be taken. He slipped his lock picking kit out of his pocket and manoeuvred it seamlessly into the piece of crap lock. He barely had to twist the tool in the barrel before it popped open.

Ranger pushed open the door and stepped in silently. The sight that greeted him instantly had his ire up. Morelli had Steph plastered against the refrigerator, his tongue down her throat, one hand buried in her hair, one cupping her ass. His babe's ass. Morelli would be lucky if he didn't lose the hand.

In one quick movement, Ranger was across the room and had Morelli by the scruff of the neck. Morelli barely had time to yelp a, "What the fuck?" before he was tossed across the kitchen.

Ranger rounded on him. "Enough!" He growled, putting his body in between Steph and Morelli. She, for her part, stood with her mouth hanging open.

Morelli straightened. "What the fuck is wrong with you, Manoso?"

"I've had enough of this bullshit." Ranger murmured darkly. "Get out."

"Get out? This is my woman's apartment. You get out." He was waving his arms and spitting sheer fury but he was keeping his distance. Smart move.

"No." Ranger responded in clipped tones. "She's my woman. She always has been and everybody knows it. You're nothing more than a convenient bed warmer and your fun is over."

"Ranger…" Came a soft voice from behind him. A gentle hand landed on his tense shoulders. "What are you doing?"

Ranger turned and zeroed in on her face, his eyes black. "Tell me I'm wrong."

"I…" She looked unsure. He got it. He'd made her feel that way. He'd pushed her back to the cop more than once. That was over now. Morelli had had his chance and playtime was over.

"Tell me." He whispered, taking a step towards her. He reached out a hand and trailed a finger over her pulse point. Her heart was racing.

"I can't." She spoke softly, her words catching in her throat and her eyes filling with tears. She shook her head. "Why are you doing this?"

Ranger closed the last of the distance between them, zoning out Morelli's outraged protests. Slipping an arm around her waist, he pulled her warm body flush against his own. She breathed a small sigh and ran her hands up his chest to his shoulders. Lowering his mouth to hers, he brushed his lips across hers with a gentleness that belied the raging need he felt for her. "Because you belong with me. You always have. I was just too pig-headed to see it."

A tear slipped down her cheek and she gave him a wobbly smile. "Are you serious?" She asked in a hope filled whisper.

"As a bullet, Babe." Ranger took her mouth again, kissing her slow and deep and she reciprocated on a breathy moan.

"Jesus! I'm still here!" Morelli roared behind them.

Ranger pulled away from Steph's beautiful mouth and was about to answer when, without breaking eye contact, his babe uttered a single word. "Why?"

The kitchen was plunged into a stunned silence for a heartbeat before Morelli exploded. "Why? For fuck's sake Steph! Are you really going to leave me for this thug? What about us?"

"Joe, you once told me there was a you, a me and sometimes we were together but there was never an us. I think we both should have paid more attention to the truth behind those words." Her voice was gentle, trying to ease the sting of her words and of what had unfolded.

"Whatever. It's your fucking funeral!" Morelli stormed out of the kitchen, yelling all the way. "Don't come crawling back to me when he gets bored with you." With that, he slammed the apartment door and was gone.

It was Ranger that broke the stillness that had settled in the wake of Hurricane Morelli. "For the record Babe, there will be no going back. That is the last time I'll see his hands anywhere near you without him ending up with a few extra holes."

Steph snorted and narrowed her eyes. "Whose fault is it he has the opportunity to touch me anyway?"

"Both of ours, Babe." Ranger pinned her with a serious look. "We've both got a lot wrong up to this point. It's time to start making better decisions. The first one was getting rid of Morelli but there are more to come."

"Like what?"

"Like how we're going to break our own unhealthy patterns of behaviour so that this has a shot."

Steph blew out a breath and gave a small nod. "You mean, like no running away?"

Ranger inclined his head. "For either of us."

"So what now?" Steph asked.

Ranger's hands slipped to her ass, tugging her forward to grind his pelvis into her, drawing a moan. "What do you think?"


End file.
